1. They help to develop problem-solving skills

A hard level and epic boss can be a bitch. You work extra hard in your head to devise strategies to beat them. Unless you are a genius gamer, you fail the first time and then take another shot, but this time you are thinking of a different novel way to beat that mean bastard (remember the last level of Max Payne 2?).

It gives you good problem-solving skills.

2. Enhance creativity

Video games make you creative. One study found that playing video games helped in increasing creativity in children. You know what the whopper is? Creativity and cellphones have no correlation at all. Dump your cellphones for those sexy gaming consoles and gaming PCs.

4. They even help you become social

No, not all gamers are sitting in their moms’ basements, overweight and in their smelly brown underwears, chugging on soft drinks at the rate of 10 litres an hour.

Studies have showed that video games actually help you become social. 70% of all gamers play with someone else on the internet. They make friends too. But, video games are not substitutes for real life socializations. Maintain a healthy balance of real life and online friends.

5. Video games help in stimulating the growth of new neurons

Once considered impossible, neurogenesis (growth of new neurons) actually takes place in the brains of gamers. We all know that grey matter is an indicator of intelligence in the brain. A study showed increased grey matter in the brains of gamers. This means you are literally building brain muscle by gaming.

Video games are the gyms for the brain. Go, workout for 30 minutes.

6. They help you think quick, make fast decisions and analyses

Anyone who has played a fast-paced game can relate to this. Some games need really quick reflexes. Even the simple game of Tetris in its hard levels is a complete finger-biting, sweat-inducing, fast-paced, decision-making workout.

9. Better hand-eye coordination

Non-gamers use a lot of brain juice to coordinate between eye movement and hand movement. A study has shown that gamers don’t even think about hand-eye coordination. Most of their brain power is focussed on higher tasks like defeating the AI because hand-eye coordination is already automated.

10. Help you navigate better

Anyone who has played GTA or Counterstrike can relate to this. Games with vast open worlds help you navigate better. You explore landscapes on the scale of hundreds of kilometers in such games. It helps your navigational abilities over time.

12. Help in teamwork and better cooperation

Ask anyone who has played Counterstrike, League of Legends or Dota with his friends. They are almost communicating telepathically with their teammates.

Their coordination and communication go deeper than the usual banter we have with our conventional teammates in real life. Working together to achieve a common goal to the point that you will sacrifice yourself altruistically, comes quite naturally to gamers.

13. Better vision

Video games give you better vision. A study has shown that playing a video game changes pathways in the brain, helping the gamer to distinguish more shades of grey. Called the contrast sensitivity function, it is the same ability that helps you drive better at night. So yeah, it helps you see better.

I had a 50 Shades Of Grey joke here, but it’s too dirty.

14. They get you lots of money and help in international relations

Take the case of the youngest millionaire of Esports – Sumail. He hails from Pakistan and one of his teammates is Sahil Arora, an American-Indian.

Whaaaaat? An Indo-Pak team combo? A successful Indo-Pak team combo?! Yes! And they won a whopping $6 million when they won The International Dota 2 Championships this year, with Sumail pocketing a cool $1.2 million. An Indian and a Pakistani teamed up with three others to win a game that is dominated by the Asians.

And Sumail is just 16! He is 16 and he made his first million dollars!

Esports is the future they say, with tournaments getting better with more audience and fatter prize money. People are realizing that there is a scope of getting into gaming professionally. Big bucks, fame, international friends and a faster, more intelligent brain.